In Good Company: Adam Scott

An ongoing series of short interviews with artists that we work with or admire called “In Good Company.” Answers are lightly edited for length and clarity.

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Hometown: Santa Monica, CA

Degrees: MFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; BFA, California State Long Beach

Favorite Color: Yellowish-blue-reddish-green

Hobbies or Personal Collections: 12’ vinyl records

As a child, did you know you wanted to be an artist? If not, what did you want to be?

I wanted to be a musician. I grew up playing the guitar and played in bands in Junior High and High School. I also loved drawing. My grandfather was an engineer and always loved art.  We would draw together when I would visit him in NYC and he would take me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art quite a bit.  

Have you had any jobs outside of the art world? If so, how have those jobs informed your work as an artist? 

I had a number of jobs in high school and college: car wash detailer, restaurant host, house painter, bookstore warehouse worker, and a health food store cashier.  All of these experiences made me acutely aware that I need a job that directly relates to something that I love doing. By the time I was at California State University in Long Beach, I was hip-deep in the art department and loving it. I met amazing professors who had robust art practices and so I shifted my life in the direction to become an artist and professor. I have been teaching art at the college level since 2001. Teaching art and making art are two sides of my unified practice. I strive to achieve praxis.

What is your favorite non-art object in your studio right now? Why do you have it?

My grandfather’s bronze plum-bob. He used that plum-bob when he surveyed the Queens-Midtown-Tunnel in NYC. As an engineer and surveyor, it was his job to make sure that the two sides of the tunnel met under the East River. It’s a power object.

What has been a defining moment of your artistic career so far?

Having my work collected by, and meeting, Takashi Murakami. He’s a lovely person! The painting was shown in “Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Collection: From Shōhaku and Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer” at the Yokohama Museum of Art in Yokohama, Japan.  

How do you measure your own success in the art world?

To have a sustainable life-long art practice and to have the respect of my artist peers.

My partner and I just relocated to Los Angeles for a tenure track teaching job for the Los Angeles Community College District after 23 years of living in Chicago. I am proud to have strong connections to the diverse and vital art communities in Chicago and Los Angeles.

If you were placing artwork in an office, what artists would you be most excited to work with?

Brian Kapernekis, Sam Jaffee, Kellie Romany, and Gina Hunt.

To see more of Adam Scott’s work, check out his website or Instagram.